NOTE: Here's the next chapter! Pretty battle heavy, so here ya go.
Enjoy and Review!
Chapter 5: Holiday Crashers
"I appreciate your gifts, Tennyson-san." Naoto smiled as she examined the Plumber equipment on her table. She looked over at the elderly Tennyson, the close friend of her grandfather. "I know you and my Grandfather were hesitant to do so, but I'm glad to have earned your trust."
Max waved his hand. "It's no problem, really. Kenji was the first one to agree after everything that happened during the summer. You kids helped us a lot fighting against Ghostfreak and the Negative 10. Not sure if the kids and I would've been able to handle them ourselves."
The young detective shook her head. "From what I've come to understand about you Tennysons, you've been able to get yourselves out of extremely tough situations more than once. Even if the rest of us hadn't joined in, I'm sure you still would've emerged victorious in the end." She picked up one of the tools, noticing the dagger-like exterior.
"Ah! Be careful with that one-" It was too late as Naoto's thumb pressed against the button. A small blue bolt fired out of the tool, startling the blueberry detective. It ricocheted off of the mirror across from them and slammed into Naoto's chest. She flew backwards into her couch, slightly sizzling with electricity.
"Naoto! Are you okay?!" Max rushed over to see that the detective's usually straight hair was now sticking out as if she was a Shonen protagonist with her body twitching slightly.
Her eyes shifted in his direction. "I-I c-can't move…!"
Max rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, that one's known for its tasing effects, you'll be stuck like this for a few minutes. There's a reason why I never showed this one to Ben; he would've shot it at Gwen and Yukiko immediately!"
"G-great…" Naoto groaned. "J-just don't tell t-the o-others about this…" She could only imagine obnoxious laughter from Yukiko and smug teasing from Rise if they found out.
"Don't worry, my lips are sealed. Well…" He pulled out his phone which Carl had bought him recently. Max snapped a photo much to Naoto's horror. "I think Kenji would find it pretty funny at least."
"Ugh…" Naoto groans again. Suddenly, her ringtone went off, alerting her that someone was trying to contact her. Unfortunately, her current position didn't allow her the ability to reach for it. "Tennyson-san, could you-"
"I got it, don't worry." Max picked her phone off the table. He squinted his eyes to read the message, thankful that he could still read Japanese pretty well. "Ah! Okay, I think Rise is asking if you're free to hang out. Apparently, they decided to go check out an evening movie." Max looked at the time on the clock. "Isn't it a bit late for that?"
"It s-s-should be f-fine. I-I'll get ready as soon as this wears off. J-just tell her I'll be over in a few minutes."
"Understood…uh, gosh I can never figure out the letters properly." Naoto watched as the ex-Plumber struggled to type out a text message. She could only hope that he didn't mess up and accidentally send some strange message instead.
Rise blinked as 'Naoto' responded to the text message. She read the weirdly worded text with extreme confusion. "I think Naoto-kun just said that she's struggling in the bathroom? She'll be over soon though."
"I don't think I needed to hear that." Yosuke gagged. Right now, the entire group was hanging out right outside of Junes. The store was luckily on its night hours, which meant they could sit at the empty tables in the courtyard.
"I did-" Yosuke shoved a snowball into Teddie's mouth before he could finish that sentence. The bear just spat it back out into the Magician's face, causing him to almost fall out of his seat.
Chie only gave the stupidity a brief moment of her attention before turning back to the three children that were joining them. "Are you sure they should still be up? I'm pretty sure it's close to bedtime."
"Superheroes don't do bedtime." Ben scoffed.
"You say that, but you also complain about not getting enough sleep whenever we head to school in the morning." Gwen countered.
Yukiko let out a concerned gasp. "Ben isn't getting enough sleep?!"
"Why would you bring that up?! Now she's not gonna let it go!" Ben hissed at Gwen.
"Your fault." Gwen shrugged.
"I've told you before, Ben, that getting eight hours of sleep is important for a growing boy your age." Yukiko scolded him. "Too many people fall victim to sickness because they never get enough sleep."
"You told me that before? I wasn't listening."
SMACK!
"OW! What was that for?!"
As the two bickered, with Gwen chiming in to throw a jab at Ben, Yu looked back at Chie. "It's fine, and Uncle is fine with Nanako seeing a Christmas movie with us as long as we come back home immediately afterwards." He put his hand on the little girl's head, earning a cute giggle.
"This is gonna be fun! Dad never lets me stay out for too long and I want to spend more time with Ben and Gwen!" Nanako turned to her new friends. The Tennysons stopped arguing after hearing Nanako's declaration.
"We want to spend more time with you too, Nanako." Gwen smiled.
"We do?"
Ben would've gotten punched if Kenny didn't hold back his little sister. However, there was nobody stopping Yukiko from smacking him in the back of the head again. She had warned the boy to watch his tongue, but his brain and mouth were always at a disconnect. Nanako didn't seem to take any offense to Ben's carelessness, having already gotten a good understanding of the boy's personality.
"It's okay, Ben! I know you're just shy." Nanako giggled.
"Shy?! I'm the exact opposite of shy!"
"True. Being shy means that you're aware of your own behavior, which you never are." Ben tossed Gwen a quick glare from her witty remark.
"It's okay to admit you're shy, Ben." Yukiko placed a hand on his hair, having somehow gotten closer to the boy without him noticing. Ben tried to scoot away, but the heiress just pulled his chair closer to her personal space, completely ignoring his own.
"I swear, watching you guys is like watching some kind of comedy." Yosuke said.
"Isn't this just how we all treat you, Yosuke-senpai?" Kanji asked.
"Yeah, that's why I hate it."
"At least I'm not the butt of the jokes this time. We can always count on Ben to take the heat off of us." Kenny said with Yosuke and Teddie agreeing with him.
"I don't think you want those two agreeing with you." Chie muttered at Kenny. In her opinion, the last thing a person would want to do was to get grouped with the butt monkeys of the group.
"I don't think it's that bad." Yu told her.
"You only say that because you're rarely the butt of the jokes. If any of us tried to attack you, I think Yukiko would just pop out and attack us instead." Chie sighed.
"I would." Yukiko, who currently had Ben placed in her lap, joined their conversation. "Only I get to make fun of Yu-kun."
"I get to make fun of him too, Yukiko-senpai!" Rise interjected. The heiress stared at her for what felt like an uncomfortably long couple of minutes.
"Why are you here again?"
"That's just mean!" Rise turned to the oldest Tennyson at the table. "Kenny! Tell Yukiko-senpai to stop being mean."
"I'm good, thanks." Kenny shook his head.
"HUH?!"
"I don't have a death wish." The ordinary Tennyson said.
"Smart decision." Yukiko said.
Yu checked his watch and hummed at the time. "Seems like we should get going if we want to make it to the movie. Rise, tell Naoto she can meet us over there."
Whipping her phone back out, Rise pulled up the detective's contact. "Sure, Senpai! I'll let her know-" She stopped suddenly as she felt something in the air shift. The idol checked their surroundings, utterly confused by the tingle going through her head.
"Rise-chan? Are you okay?" Chie asked.
"Y-yeah, it's just that something feels off. A shift in the air just occurred." Rise explained.
"Are you sure? I can try helping you figure it out." Gwen offered as she stepped towards the idol.
"Thanks, Gwen-chan, but I'm sure it's nothing to be worried about." Rise waved it off.
Yu would've agreed if he hadn't caught something bright in the corner of his eye. He snapped his head to the direction to see a huge fireball descending on them. "EVERYONE, MOVE!" The group looked in the direction and gasped at the fireball.
BOOM!
Each of the teens and kids were blown away by the explosion, but luckily were unharmed by the attack. Yu held Nanako in his arms to keep her safe as he looked around for the others. "Is everyone okay?!"
"Yeah! We're fine!" Yosuke yelled.
"What the hell was that?!" Chie looked ready to kick some ass.
"A fireball, but I didn't throw that!" Yukiko responded as she checked on Ben and Gwen with Kenny.
Ben pushed her hands away and jumped to his feet. "Whoever it was is getting a one-way ticket to a butt kicking!"
As Kanji helped Rise back to her feet, something collided with his back at a speed their eyes couldn't keep up with. The two fell back into the snow as the dark blur continued zipping around the group much to their confusion. "The hell was that?!" Kanji grunted.
"S-something's moving pretty fast!" Rise exclaimed.
The blur returned with a gust of wind that forced them all to separate from one another. Rise felt herself getting shoved by Kanji towards Yu as the blur blew past them. The teens and kids had no choice but to form whatever groups they could to keep themselves from getting taken out in one fell swoop.
Teddie yelped when several small needles pierced his butt, causing him to jump up and down cartoonishly. Yosuke plucked the needles out of the bear, staring bewildered at the light brown projectiles. "What the hell even are these?"
"I'm guessing those must've come from that guy!" Chie pointed at the masked figure approaching them. Needles protruded from his arms and legs as he took a silent stance against them. She, Yosuke, and Teddie glared at their opposition, preparing themselves for a fight.
Yu was about to call out to them again until he felt Nanako get ripped out of his arms. The leader gasped when he heard his little sister cry out for him, turning to see the Kineceleran holding the young Dojima in her arms. "Big Bro, help!"
"NANAKO!" Yu's scream gained the attention of everyone else. Eyes widened in fear and anger at seeing the young girl getting dragged into another dangerous mess. The Kineceleran didn't say a word before taking off further into Inaba with Nanako. "NO!" Yu cried and turned to Rise with a desperate look. "Rise! Can you track them?!"
"I-I should be able to!" Rise exclaimed, activating her Persona.
"Then let's hurry!"
Ben, having heard their plan, activated the Omnitrix. "No need! XLR8 can catch up with them in no time flat!" He started scrolling through the watch to find his fastest alien. However, he wouldn't get the chance to transform as a taller figure slammed down in front of him and his cousins. The four of them gasped when the skinny masked Tetramand loomed over Ben's form. He would've brought his arms down to crush the boy if Kanji hadn't jumped in the way.
"Rokuten Maou!" Kanji called forth his Persona to grant him strength to defend against the blow. The ex-delinquent felt his knees buckle from the power behind the alien's attack, but still pushed back against him with his own strength. "You guys hurry after Nanako-chan! I'll deal with this guy!"
"Kanji!" Rise exclaimed until Yu pulled on her wrist.
"C'mon, Rise! We need to move!" The Fool and idol left the scene to find Nanako.
Kanji blocked another punch from the young Tetramand, but the alien's other limbs took advantage of their difference to send the teenager flying across the street. He jumped after Kanji to continue their fight.
"Be careful, Kanji! Even if he's not as big as Four Arms, that's still a Tetramand!" Gwen warned the teenager. She looked back at her family with a concerned look. "What are we gonna do? I didn't plan on rogue alien attacks tonight!"
"We need to help the others and get Nanako-chan! Kenny, call Grandpa and Naoto-kun to let them know what's happening!" Yukiko ordered.
"On it!" Kenny ran for cover and pulled out his phone, but unfortunately a static bolt crashed into him, knocking him out into a snowbank.
"KENNY!" Yukiko and the kids screamed.
Ben looked around for the culprit with his watch ready. "Alright! Show yourself, so I can kick your butt for that!"
"Aw! But I always enjoyed our games of hide-and-seek!"
Several red beams descended on the trio in response to his declaration. Gwen quickly manifested a shield to protect them from the attacks. Her eyes widened as she recognized the voice, and she wasn't alone as her cousins also turned to the direction it came from. Walking out of the shadows, dressed similarly to the other assailants was none other than their old nemesis, Kevin Levin. "Did you miss me?"
"Kevin…? You're not in the Null Void?" Gwen asked. "And you're back to normal!"
He gave her a heated glare in response to the question. "No thanks to you! Leaving me for dead in there with Vilgax!"
"B-but…we didn't leave you, Kevin! You-" A blast of static from his hands interrupted her. Gwen's shield broke, knocking her back into several tables in the courtyard.
"Shut it! I'm not here for you!" His eyes shifted to the angered Ben and Yukiko. "I'm here for you, Tennyson!"
"Even after what happened you're still the same ol' Kevin! I don't care what it is you want, because you're going down!" Ben activated the watch and dialed up Feedback. "It's Hero Time!"
FLASH!
"Eye-Guy?!" The Octopiod groaned.
"Ben!" Yukiko's stern call forced him to get over the mistransformation. The two opened fire on the evil kid, who rolled out of the way of their attacks. His body surged with electrical power that he unleashed in a shockwave against them. Yukiko was shoved out of the way by Eye-Guy, who took the attack head on with his arms crossed.
Eye-Guy brushed off the attack and extended his eyes at his nemesis. "It's gonna take more than that to deal with me, Kevin!" Several beams of light, fire, cold, and electricity were all dodged by the mutant, who retaliated by tossing an electrified manhole cover at the alien hero.
The metal disc was obliterated by a ball of flame, reminding Kevin that he wasn't fighting just Ben. He hissed as a fireball narrowly missed his head, then fired off multiple bolts at the heiress. "You're always getting in the way! This is between me and Ben, got it?!"
Yukiko's eyes glowed with a brilliant flame as Sumeo-Okami's power deflected his shots. "And you're always going to be a thorn in our side! This was supposed to be the perfect holiday, and you're ruining it! Agidyne!"
Kevin braced himself as the large fireball was too big for him to dodge. He screamed as the attack blew him back, his body skidding across the pavement. He was quickly coming to the realization that without his mutation, these two were easily overpowering him. More power was going to be needed if he even wanted a chance at beating them in this fight.
Luckily for him, a perfect power source landed right on top of him. Literally.
Eye-Guy slammed down on Kevin, knocking the wind out of him. He punched the mutant across the face twice for good measure before pointing his hand's eye at him. "Give it up, Kevin! EYE got you beat, again!"
Kevin spat out a mix of blood and saliva before smirking at his nemesis. "You're still the same moron as you've always been, Tennyson!"
Yukiko realized what Kevin was about to do. "BEN! GET AWAY FROM HIM!"
"Huh?" Eye-Guy looked in her direction, which gave Kevin his opening. His hand gripped the Omnitrix on the hero's waist.
"Letting me get too close isn't a good idea!" Kevin laughed as the power of the Omnitrix started to swell inside him once again. His mind struggled to keep itself together, but that didn't matter as long as it allowed him to accomplish his mission. Eye-Guy screamed as Kevin's power started overloading the watch, causing an explosion of energy to rock the street.
Gwen woke back up in time to see Ben flying out of the smoke cloud, his body sailing right towards her. She used her powers to catch Ben before he could crash into her, she then saw Yukiko rushing over to check on them. "Are you guys alright?!" Yukiko asked.
Ben groaned slightly, clearly still reeling from the explosion. Gwen held him in her arms as a sickening dark presence invaded the air around them. "I-I'm fine, but what about Kevin?!"
STOMP!
The girls froze before turning to the source of the noise. A large figure emerged from the smoke and it didn't take a genius to figure out who it was, much to the girls' horror.
"Nice going, Tennyson…" Kevin's mutated form was much different from his previous one. His face kept its regular structure and hair but he had two different skin tones, similar to Frankenstrike, with the colors being like Wildvine and Upchuck. He had a right eye belonging to Blitzwolfer, a left eye belonging to Eye-Guy, a mouth belonging to Upchuck, and a head fin and chin that belonged to Way Big. His body was similar to Cannonbolt, but with Feedback's cords protruding out of his back, eggplant bombs similar to Wildvine, a lower chest with sensory nodes belonging to Ditto, and bandages similar to Snare-oh's, with his shoulders resembling Frankenstrike. His arms and lower parts belonged to Cannonbolt and were covered by Eye-Guy's eyes and spikes similar to Wildvine. His legs were like Ditto's and he had a large tail that resembled Upchuck's. A crown sat on top of his head, looking similar to the one Snare-oh would have. "THIS BATCH IS EVEN BETTER THAN THE LAST ONE! RAAAAAAHHH!"
Kevin's monstrous roar shook the street as the Tennysons stared at him in mutual shock. The monstrous mutant pointed his arms at them, unleashing a big blast of energy. Yukiko tossed her little siblings out of the way as the beam struck her.
"YUKIKO!" Ben and Gwen watched as the heiress went flying into a snowbank. Her clothes were burnt and torn, while she struggled to get back up until her body gave out. Yukiko laid unconscious in the snow as Kevin laughed madly.
"That's one down! You're next, Tennyson!" Kevin declared.
Chie dodged the barrage of needles that threatened to impale her as she ran through the empty streets. The deadly needles destroyed the row of glass windows of the closed businesses, making the martial artist wince about the property damage being caused. She kicked up a piece of debris and kicked it at the young alien.
The masked alien dodged the projectile and swiftly pulled out a long needle out of his arm to use as a sword. He turned and clashed against the metal pole Yosuke had found on the ground, kicking the Magician in the stomach to knock him back before unleashing another torrent of needles.
"Shit! Garu!" A burst of wind deflected the needles away along with the masked alien. The assailant was sent flying right towards Teddie, who cartoonishly puffed up his arm with muscle.
"Time for a bear-some knock out!" Teddie declared as he wound up his arm. He pushed forward just as the masked alien turned around with a storm of needles ready. They stabbed into the bear's oncoming fist, causing him to cry in pain. "YEOW!" The bear was kicked away by the masked alien before he leaned back to avoid an overhead kick from Chie.
"Hold still, already!" Chie growled.
"No." He aimed to stab her through the torso with his needle blade before Yosuke smacked Chie away with a burst of wind that sent the kung-fu girl rolling across the street. He then bashed his pipe into the young alien's helmet, cracking it from the force. The masked alien stumbled, holding his cracked helmet.
"I'm not an expert on aliens, but even I know that a hard enough hit to the head will do some damage to anyone-GAH!" Yosuke cried as a foot buried itself into his ribs. The Magician spiraled into the snow with his ass in the air. He popped his head out to glare at the one responsible. "What the hell is your problem?!"
"You hit me with a Garu, jackass!" Chie yelled.
"I was trying to save you, dumbass!"
The masked alien saw this as his chance to attack them, preparing to unleash a storm of needles to take them out. That was until a shadow loomed over him, causing the young man to look up in shock. A huge chunk of ice loomed over his head, threatening to crush him into paste. "Bufudyne!" Teddie's attack came crashing down like a sledgehammer that forced the masked alien to roll out of the way. Unfortunately, the attack exploded into chunks of ice that embedded themselves into his back.
"Gah!" He cried as he rolled across the ground. He struggled to get back up to his feet as the ice chunks slowly started to freeze his back. He looked up to see Chie looming over him with a smug grin on her face. "Y-you…"
"Next time, don't crash our holidays!" She kicked him hard in the chin, sending him spinning through the air and into a building. The young alien dropped to the ground with a silent thud, clearly unconscious from the powerful hit. "And that's how you get it done, boys."
"We did most of the work." Yosuke reminded her.
"Do you want to repeat that?" Chie hissed at him, clenching her fists.
"...Nah, I'm good."
"He said that you didn't do anything, Chie-chan!" Teddie unnecessarily added.
"Shut up!" Yosuke yelled at the bear, then avoided a kick towards his head. "Dammit! Will you calm down?!"
"Get back here, Hanamura!"
Teddie was about to join the chase until a loud explosion shook the streets of the town. The three Persona users stared at it in shock before realizing what that had to have meant. "Isn't that where Yuki-chan and the Tennysons are?!"
"Yukiko-chan!" Chie took off to assist her best friend. The brothers didn't waste time chasing after her to help out their friends as well.
"Grah!" Kanji threw a haymaker at the masked Tetramand, blowing him back into the opposite wall. The red-skinned warrior wasn't perturbed in the slightest and recovered pretty quickly. The Tetramand then rushed forward with a punch to Kanji's gut that sent the ex-delinquent sliding across the ground. He sat up and wiped the blood from his lips with a tired grin.
"Damn, I guess Gwen wasn't wrong about this guy's species. Trying to fistfight him isn't going to work the way I want it to, so I'm gonna have to rely on you, Rokuten Maou!" Kanji crushed his tarot card to summon his Persona.
Ignorant to the appearance of the Persona, the masked Tetramand charged at Kanji with his fists pulled back. Kanji's fist crackled with electricity as his Persona loomed over them both. "Zionga!" He declared as his punch collided with his opponent's chest, blowing the young man through the wall.
"G-guh…what the-" The Tetramand grunted as he climbed back to his feet. He wouldn't deny that the human was strong and was managing to handle his strength, but his attacks weren't something to be worried about. However, that last punch was enough to knock the wind out of him and that pissed him off.
"Fatal End!" Kanji's outcry warned him to move as Rokuten Maou's fist smashed into the ground, cracking it like an earthquake. The masked Tetramand turned around to be greeted by a lariat from Kanji, smashing him back into the ground.
"Grah!" The Tetramand pushed himself up to double-kick Kanji in the chest to push him back, followed by an onslaught of strong punches that knocked the human back into the street. He exhaled exhaustedly before gasping at the sight of the teenager getting back up, as if he was unfazed. He stared into Kanji's determined eyes with his four hesitant ones. "W-what even are you?"
Kanji wiped the blood from his mouth with his sleeve. "I don't know who you are or what you want, but all I know is that you made a big mistake attacking our town! This place has suffered enough already and it doesn't need anymore trouble! So I'm gonna end this and go help my friends!" Kanji charged at the opponent with a passionate cry.
The Tetramand tightened his fist, still willing to try and fulfill his mission. He met the teenager head-on with his own fist, ready to bash the ex-delinquent's head in. Unluckily for him, Kanji's next attack would be much too strong for him to handle. Right as their fists were about to collide, Kanji's tarot card shattered to pieces between them. "Mazionga!"
"GAAAAAH!" The Tetramand screamed painfully as his body was assaulted by the powerful electricity. He was blown back through the streets, bouncing across the pavement until his body rolled to a complete stop.
Kanji caught his breath as he allowed his body to cool down from the fight. He winced, knowing that he'd be feeling the injuries he sustained in the morning. Merely a second later, a large explosion caught his attention, reminding him that his friends were still in trouble. The teen swallowed his pain and rushed off. "Don't worry, guys! I'm coming!"
"Senpai! By the hill!" Rise pointed at the direction the blur had gone. The two followed the trail up to the highest peak of the town, an open-field park that was usually used for town celebrations and family gatherings.
"Ziodyne!" Izanagi's electrified sword stabbed the ground in the direction the blur had been moving, forcing her to stop in place. She turned around with the struggling Nanako kept securely in her arms. The teens finally reached them much to their relief. "Give Nanako back, now!"
"Big Bro!" Nanako reached for him.
"Don't worry, Nanako-chan, we'll get you back!" Rise reassured her.
The Kineceleran hissed at them both before taking off again. Rise was quick to track her movement. "Don't worry, Senpai! She hasn't left the park yet… I think she's trying to keep us guessing."
"Basically keeping us trapped up here to take us down with her speed. If we can't hit her here, then we don't have a shot at getting Nanako back." Yu realized. "And even then, we can't do anything too big, or else we risk hurting Nanako."
"A perfect trap." Rise muttered.
"No…not perfect." Yu refuted. He summoned his tarot card and glanced at Rise. "I need you to time this perfectly, okay? Right as she's about to get close enough to us, shout."
"Right!" Rise honed her senses to keep track of the Kineceleran. She could feel the air around them and the speed at which the girl was traveling, and luckily for, her decision to stay in the area was working against her. This allowed Rise to grow better accustomed to the speed she was running at until finally she had it nailed completely. "NOW!"
"Mighty Swing!" The Persona, Hanuman, struck the ground with a mighty swing. The dirt and stone erupted instantly, forcing the Kineceleran to stop in her tracks completely. The abruptness of the action caused her to release Nanako, who went flying through the air. She screamed until Rise managed to catch her in her arms.
"Nanako-chan!"
"Rise-chan!" Nanako wrapped her arms around Rise's neck in a tight hug. "I knew you guys would save me again!"
Yu smiled at his little sister before turning back to the downed Kineceleran. "Sorry about this, but I'm gonna have to finish this-"
BOOM!
He stopped and turned to the explosion that was visible from all over Inaba. "Shit…!"
"Senpai!" He saw the concerned look on Rise's face. "That came from the direction that the Tennysons are in! And whatever they're fighting is malicious…the most chaotic energy I've ever felt!"
"Then we need to hurry!" Yu and the girls hurried down the hill to help their friends, leaving the knocked out Kineceleran behind.
"HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!" Kevin's monstrous laugh echoed through the streets as he tossed plant grenades at the Tennysons. Ben and Gwen ducked and dodged out of the way to avoid getting blown up. The sorceress shot discs of raw mana at the mutant, all of which harmlessly shattered against his hulking body.
"You need to calm down, Kevin!" Gwen yelled.
"I AM CALM! HA HA!" He roared with a thunderous jump towards them. He would've crushed them under his feet if Gwen hadn't pushed herself and her cousin out of the way.
"Yeah, about as calm as a crazy lunatic!" Ben yelled.
"Crazy?! I got friends in high places now, snotrag! I'm the hero now, not you!" Kevin declared as his cords crackled with electricity, plugging into the ground to release a destructive wave of static that tore apart the pavement. Gwen created a platform to keep them levitated in the air to avoid getting shocked.
"Kevin, you need to control yourself! That's the energy talking, not you!" Gwen tried to reason with him. "It's messing with your head!"
Kevin grunted slightly as his head started to hurt, but the maniacal mutant disregarded the pain along with her words. "You keep saying these things and messing with my head! Now I know that I'm not the problem, I'm not the one that's insane! It's you guys! You're the problem!" He smashed his fist into the ground to command a burst of vines to reach for the Tennysons. The vines shattered Gwen's platform, causing the two to get blown away from each other. "And I'm the solution!"
Gwen winced in pain and felt the bruises that stung her knees, making it difficult for her to stand up. She gasped when a large shadow loomed over her and looked up to see Kevin smiling sadistically down at her. "Hey, Gwen."
"K-Kevin…! You need to snap out of it!" She continued trying to plead. "You need to focus!"
"I am focused!" He raised his arm, generating an optic blast with his large red eyes. "Focused on blowing you away! You'll never invade my head again!" Red-hot energy surged forth, forcing Gwen to put up a shield to defend herself. It burned through her shield as if it were butter and exploded on contact with the ground, blowing Gwen across the street. Even with her stinging wounds, Gwen still tried to get back on her feet.
"Tch…! When did you get so strong?!" Kevin snarled.
"I-I promised you that I'd never abandon you, didn't I?" Gwen coughed out. The reminder of her words caused the mutant to freeze. "I would never go back on that. I don't know what happened to you since we last saw each other, but I'm sorry if it hurt you." A blue tendril of energy that kept them connected appeared once again, just like back in the Null Void. Kevin hissed in pain as his head was being assaulted by immense pain. Memories and emotions that he could barely remember were flashing through his head.
If his head was in a more stable condition, perhaps something good could've come from this, but that wasn't the case now. All that Kevin could process was raging anger at having his head constantly assaulted by headaches. "Stop! Stop! STOP! GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" Kevin unleashed another optic beam at the sorceress, who could barely muster up the strength to try and stop this one.
FLASH!
A wall of crystals blocked the attack, saving Gwen's life. As the wall of crystals retracted back into the ground, Diamondhead stood between the two, his eyes fixed solely on Kevin. Gwen coughed again as she stared at her cousin's back. "Ben! Y-you have to stop him!"
"...Yeah." Diamondhead nodded his head at her. He turned to Kevin with a slow walk that his nemesis was more than happy to replicate. "It's just you and me now, Kevin."
"Just as it always should've been! No Grandpa, no annoying cousins, and no outside interference! Just the two of us and me tearing you apart, Tennyson!" Kevin declared with malicious enthusiasm.
"I don't know why you came back and why you're trying to kill me again, but I'm not gonna let you get away with it! We're ending this now, Kevin!" Diamondhead shouted and started running towards the mutant.
"GLADLY! HA HA HA HA HA HA!" The two charged at one another with shouts of power. Their fists collided, creating a shockwave that ripped apart the very ground beneath them.
The Pyronite attacker gasped as he was blown back by Yamato-Takeru, his flames giving out to signify that he turned back to normal. His face was obscured by his helmet, which must've been fireproof from the looks of things. Naoto twirled her gun before putting it back in its holster. "And that's the end of that."
Max walked towards the downed masked youth. "Now let's take a look at who this attacker is-" He was interrupted by Naoto's ringtone going off once again. Max looked to see Naoto answering the call, hoping that it was something important.
"Rise? What's wrong? …WHAT?!" Naoto exclaimed.
"Naoto? What's wrong?!" Max asked quickly.
She raised a hand to put him on hold. "I see, thanks for letting us know. We were also attacked by someone, but Tennyson-san and I are all fine now. We'll head over there shortly." She hung up the phone and looked at Max. "Seems like we weren't the only ones attacked. A rogue group of aliens attacked everyone as they were heading towards the movies! Yukiko-senpai and the rest of your grandchildren are still battling down by Junes!"
Paternal concern exploded inside of Max. "Great…! This is one of the times that I wished I had the Rustbucket with me!" He ignored the boy on the ground to race towards the supermarket. "Whatever is going on just crashed the wrong holiday!"
"I just hope they're all okay!" Naoto grimaced as she followed the ex-Plumber.
Diamondhead blocked an attack from Kevin, then retaliated with a geyser of crystals that exploded from the ground, propelling the mutant into the air. Kevin spun for a moment before using his wrappings to detach some planet grenades. They exploded against his feet to blast him back towards the alien hero. Static electricity exploded from his cords, forcing Diamondhead to put up a crystal barrier to protect himself. Kevin smashed his large arms through the sturdy shield to bash the Petrosapien into the ground below, pointing both his arms down at the hero with sadistic glee. "Say 'ah', Tennyson!"
"How about a 'NO' instead!" Diamondhead slammed his arm into Kevin's, pushing the mutant away to redirect his optic blast to explode against the ground. He pushed through the smoke to punch Kevin across the face several times, then created a spiked crystal ball and exploded it across the mutant's chest. Kevin bounced across the ground, crashing into the Junes building, which was thankfully devoid of both shoppers and staff.
Diamondhead stepped through the hole in the super store to continue their battle. "Are you ready to give up, Kevin?"
"In your dreams, brat!" Kevin spat before picking up a large chunk of debris. He shoved it down his mouth, allowing it to transform into raw energy. He laughed before bellowing out a sickening green volley of energy.
"Great! He has Upchuck too!" Diamondhead deflected and dodged the wave of attacks. He shot a few shards at the mutant, but each projectile was blocked by the mutant's arm. Kevin opened his mouth once more, making the hero think he was going to release another barf attack.
However, it was much worse.
A sonic screech similar to Blitzwolfer devastated the produce department of the store as it barreled into Diamondhead. His body cracked and shook from the powerful attack as he was blown across the supermarket. "A-and Blitzwolfer too…great."
"I definitely like these ones more than the last! Thanks for making me stronger, Tennyson!" Kevin strolled over to his downed enemy.
"Yeah? Well, enjoy it while it lasts…" Diamondhead waited until Kevin was close enough to kick out against the mutant's legs, tripping him up. "...Because you won't have them for much longer!" He bulked up his left arm with more crystals and smashed it into Kevin's chest. He then grabbed Kevin by his legs and started spinning the mutant around like a merry-go-round. Diamondhead released his enemy once he had reached enough speed to throw the mutant back outside of the store. Kevin rolled through the snow and before he could recover, an explosion of crystals from the ground sent him flying through the air.
Yukiko, who had woken up just a bit ago, used her healing spells on Gwen and Kenny. Luckily their injuries weren't anything grave, so it didn't take much to have them physically back to 100%. She could hear the sounds of Ben and Kevin's fight and could only hope that her little brother would win, or at least hold off the dangerous mutant till they could reach him.
"Yukiko-chan!"
"Yukiko-senpai!"
The heiress turned to see most of her friends had returned from their fights, no worse for wear except for Kanji, who definitely needed to get healed up a bit. The kung-fu fanatic kneeled down next to her to check for injuries. "Are you okay? Is your family okay?!"
"We're just fine, Chie-chan. I'm happy to see that you're all okay, too."
"It'll take more than what they had to hurt this loveable bear!" Teddie flexed his muscles.
"Where's Ben?" Kanji asked.
"He's-"
CRASH!
They all turned to see Kevin had crashed into the ground near them. He climbed back to his seat, clearly wincing from the damage had taken from Ben's attacks. The mutant turned around and smiled at them as an idea formed in his head.
"What the hell is that?!" Yosuke flinched back in disgust. The others were also disgusted by the abomination's appearance.
"It's Kevin!" Yukiko answered.
"Kevin?! You mean that evil kid who mimicked Ben's powers?!" Chie gasped.
Kanji rolled his arms with a glare. "Tch! Looks like this little punk needs to learn a lesson!"
"Me?! You must be talking about yourself, blondie!" Kevin smashed his hand into the ground, causing multiple vines to erupt around the teenagers and the downed Tennysons, trapping them.
Diamondhead arrived to see that Kevin had his friends and family held hostage. "KEVIN!"
"What's your next plan, Tennyson?! One wrong move and I'll blow them all away! HA HA HA HA!" Kevin declared, his arm charging up an optic blast.
"B-Ben…! Don't-GAH!" Yukiko was cut off by the tightening of the vines. Diamondhead's eyes widened at Yukiko getting hurt and growled at Kevin.
"I thought this was our fight, Kevin! Are you backing out of it?!"
"As if! It's just that you're so easy to manipulate! All it takes is hurting the people you care about to get you all scared! Now I'll just blow you all away, while you can't do anything about it!"
SHINE!
"Huh?" Kevin paused as a bright light shone down on them. Everyone looked up to see Izanagi-no-Okami raising his blade into the air. Kevin only had a moment to gasp before the Ultimate Persona casted his judgment and released an attack that almost blinded everyone in the area. As it died down, Kevin's vines retracted back into the ground and the Omnitrix started beeping.
FLASH!
Ben blinked after he turned back to normal, when he looked over he could see Kevin lying unconscious on the ground. The mutant's transformation gave out and he turned back to normal. He was about to approach the mutant until he was picked up and a pair of boobs pressed into the back of his head. "Ben! Are you okay?!"
"Y-Yukiko?!" He looked up and saw the face of his older sister. "Was that…?"
"Yes! Yu-kun must've casted Izanagi-no-Okami to defeat Kevin. But I guess he and Rise-chan haven't gotten back just yet." Yukiko looked around for her boyfriend.
"Man…that guy surprises me every single time I see him... Though I wished I could've taken down Kevin myself." Ben frowned at Kevin. The mutant had once again hurt his family and he couldn't stop Kevin himself, to the point someone else had to intervene.
"You still protected us, Ben. Don't be hard on yourself." Yukiko hugged him tightly. "Unfortunately, I can't say the same for the state of the town." She and Ben observed the damage that their fight with Kevin and his group had caused. This would take some time to fully repair, especially since the town had never dealt with anything like this before.
"Well, first things first should be checking on Kevin." Ben pointed at their old enemy.
"Right-"
BLING!
Before the two or anyone else could do anything, a weird light started glowing from Kevin's wrist. It wasn't just him either, the same was happening to the rest of his group who were scattered around Inaba. In a flash of light, Kevin and his allies vanished from Inaba without a trace. All the heroes could do was stare at the spot Kevin vanished from with one question burning on their minds.
What the hell just happened?
Chapter End
NOTE: A bit of an abrupt ending, but the aftermath will all be in the next chapter. This chapter also is me letting the Investigation Team get some wins since they got so easily trashed in DAA. The 'Ben 10 Hit Squad' never stood a chance, especially with Yu around. He's the strongest one in the group currently.
Ben doesn't have Arctiguana yet, so Feedback to its place in Kevin's mutated design.
Gwen wasn't trying to fight back and tried reasoning with Kevin, which would've worked if he wasn't a psychotic mess. Also pay attention that Kevin's memories weren't accurate to what actually transpired back in S2. A plot point that will be revisited when I eventually get to Omniverse. That...will be a long time in the future.
Have a great day!